Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Pinocchio: Unstrung arrives with exactly the sort of reputation you’d expect from the filmmaker behind Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a film so universily maligned that it seemed to unite critics and audiences in the rare consensus that some public-domain ideas are better left unexplored.
As the fifth entry in the ever-expanding Twisted Childhood Universe, it’s another attempt to twist a beloved children’s tale into an unapologetically bloody slasher. Thankfully, this is one of the stronger efforts from the franchise, even if it still can’t quite shake the limitations that have defined the series so far.
The film centres on James (Cameron Bell), a lonely young boy whose grandfather Geppetto brings to life a mysterious wooden puppet, Pinocchio, voiced by Jude Evan Lloyd, as a companion for him. The two form a brotherly bond that quickly spirals into something far darker after the puppet is exposed to humanity’s cruelty.
Convinced that the only way to rid the world of evil and become a real boy, is through increasingly gruesome acts of violence, Pinocchio embarks on a murderous rampage that fully embraces the film’s gleefully absurd premise. Richard Brake brings a suitably world-weary presence as Geppetto, while the legendary Robert Englund lends his unmistakable voice to the sinister Cricket, a twisted reimagining of Jiminy Cricket that acts as Pinocchio’s unsettling conscience.
Anyone familiar with the Twisted Childhood Universe will know exactly what they’re signing up for. Logic frequently takes a back seat to outrageous kill scenes, dialogue is often secondary to spectacle, and subtlety isn’t invited to the party. Yet Pinocchio: Unstrung feels noticeably more confident than some of its predecessors. There’s a better sense of pacing, the humour lands more often, and the film seems comfortable leaning into its own ridiculousness rather than pretending to be something it isn’t.
The film’s biggest strength is undoubtedly the title character himself. Instead of relying heavily on CGI, the production uses a fully realised animatronic puppet, and it makes an enormous difference. Pinocchio has a tangible physical presence that’s genuinely unsettling in close-up, with stiff movements and an expressionless face that are far creepier than any digital creation could have managed on this budget. The practical effects throughout deserve plenty of credit, with the gore delivering exactly what fans of low-budget splatter cinema will be hoping for.
The cast also helps elevate the material. Lloyd’s vocal performance gives Pinocchio an eerie innocence that gradually gives way to something far more sinister, while Englund clearly relishes every line as the manipulative Cricket. Brake grounds the madness with a surprisingly sincere performance, even if the screenplay doesn’t always give him enough emotional material to explore.
That’s not to say the film is without some problems. At just 82 minutes, it races through character development, leaving emotional moments feeling undercooked, while some performances from the younger cast lack consistency. The screenplay also struggles to balance genuine horror with self-aware comedy, occasionally landing somewhere awkwardly in between.
Still, judged on its own ambitions, Pinocchio: Unstrung succeeds more often than it fails. It’s inventive, gleefully nasty, and showcases some genuinely impressive practical craftsmanship. It won’t convert anyone who already dislikes this bizarre horror universe, but for fans of the genre, this is one of the franchise’s more entertaining outings.
